Politics and Racing Collide in Toronto and Woodbine Loses

This week’s LET IT RIDE.COM HOT TOPIC comes from Mike Veitch of The Saratogian…take a read and VOICE AN OPINION!

Woodbine Racetrack’s slots and racing coming to an end

What is the Ontario government thinking?

Injured by a bitter political dispute, the model program of slots and racing at Woodbine in Toronto is coming to an end next month.

Widely viewed as the most successful marriage of its kind, the Woodbine example produced the highest gross purses in North America, and attracted leading owners from the United States to participate in quality racing at a marvelous facility.

Since the institution of track slots in 2000, Woodbine has paid out, on average, some $500,000 per day during the racing season of early April to early December.

The partnership ends on Mar. 31, and Woodbine reacted by eliminating more than 100 jobs on Thursday.

Woodbine has also reduced the number of days it is racing in 2013, resulting in lower gross purses for the season.

You can expect the stakes program to take a hit, although major events like the Queen’s Plate, Woodbine Mile Day, and Canadian International Day will remain this year.

“This is our problem,” said leading Woodbine horseman Reade Baker, a Sovereign Award winner as his nation’s leading conditioner and the trainer of Canadian Horses of the Year Biofuel and Fatal Bullet.

Baker was not only referring to Woodbine, but to all of racing, which is under attack from hostile politicians and activists who do not understand the game.

I fear the Woodbine move is only the beginning, for as the racing purses decline, owners and trainers are going to follow with layoffs of their own.

“This really hurts and it is extremely unfortunate,” said Baker. “I’ve known some of these people for 30 years and from where I stand they are good employees. This is a heartbreaking situation.”

One insider at Woodbine described the situation to me as “chaos,” and was clearly jolted by the job cuts, even though that sword has been hanging for the last several months.

Baker noted that racing still fights an age-old perception that is is controlled by wealthy people, when in fact most owners lose money.

And it is the dedication of those owners that supports jobs on the backstretch, where the life of thoroughbred training takes place and where these majestic athletes receive wonderful care.

Not that I’m expecting government officials to grasp that fact anytime soon.

But I do expect government officials to not use words like “subsidy” to describe the slots program at Woodbine.

When the Province of Ontario wanted to expand gambling in the 1990’s, Woodbine, under the leadership of David Willmot, stepped forward and urged the government to use the track as the socially responsible thing to do.

Further, the government would not have to find space and pay rent, but rather have a ready facility at Woodbine for slot machines.

To that end, Woodbine invested $400 million at the track for the slots component, money that the government did not have to spend.

Does that sound like a government subsidy?

As part of the deal, purses at Woodbine increased, creating a better racing product that in turn produced more pari-mutuel revenue to the government.

In their argument about ending the program, politicians pitted racing against education and health care, conveniently overlooking the benefits to both from the partnership.

Since the Woodbine slots program got underway, the provincial government has realized $17 billion and the participating tracks $4 billion.

Does that sound like a government subsidy?

What it sounds like to me is that the provincial government is going to wreck a program that is working, one that has provided employment, and one that has returned much more to Ontario than the $4 billion that the tracks have received.

The aforementioned owners from this side of the border will be making fewer trips to Toronto, meaning less revenue to hotels and restaurants.

As purses decline, they will gradually reduce their presence on the daily racing programs at Woodbine.

This is a very serious hit to thoroughbred racing, reflective of how the game continues to fall in the public arena.

Woodbine’s owners and trainers are our neighbors, and they support Saratoga racing.